The current rage with cacao nibs and all things cacao (including good old chocolate) is driving the price of cacao beans through the roof. Apparently, in the near future, we would no longer be able to afford chocolate due to intense cacao tree shortage. To battle this horror of horrors, some techy dudes are finding ways to print chocolate as a method which uses less chocolate whilst boosting it's taste permeation. I am sure printed chocolate could very well be yummy and all, but I am not taking any chances for now. Before real chocolate disappears from the face of the earth, we should all have at least tried chocolate made in it's intended original form.
Since I discovered my small list of intolerances three years ago, I have been consuming a speciality chocolate from Modica, Italy, which is supposedly made in that original and ancient Aztec method. Made from roasted cocoa beans, it is then ground by a giant stone pestle and mortar, before it is gently heated to 35-37C with some sugar which remains undissolved, to form cold-worked chocolate (think cold-pressed olive oil). It is extremely yummy, if rather a little grainy as you would expect from the sugar, not that I mind as the grainy-ness actually makes me feel very Aztec. And there are no additions, nothing funny, nothing processed - just good old cocoa beans and sugar, making it extremely intolerant-friendly! Apparently, unprocessed chocolate is very good for you, so it is a win-win situation.
Unsurprisingly, I am hoarding quite alot of this Aztec-late at home, as every trip to the homeland returns with at least 10 bars of yummy goodness in the suitcase. I do not see this changing in the foreseeable future, in fact, I think with all the chocolate warning, I am in need of a bigger suitcase. That, or we should crowd-fund to buy a cacao tree farm in Mexico together. Anyone?
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